AUTHOR'S NOTES: Those who noticed the Korra/Asami tag on this story will be pleased to know that while this is not where they become "official" by any means, this is definitely the moment the seeds get sown. Nakkoa and Kwan also seem to know them from somewhere, although whether they actually do or not, is for another time. For now, it's time to introduce Korra to her new best friend.
Happy Reading!


BOOK ONE: POWER

CHAPTER TWELVE: ASAMI SATO

The vehicle which struck Korra was fortunately small, to the tune of a moped rather than a larger car or worse, a truck. Still, the speed and force was enough to not only knock Korra off of her feet, but send her spiraling through the air, where she skidded to a halt a few feet away, dazed, confused, and clutching her left side. The diver screeched to a halt and raced over towards Korra, shaking her head.

"I'm so sorry!" It was a woman's voice, although Korra was still a little dizzy from the impact her body and head had made against the road to really catch her appearance. "I didn't see you!"

"Hmm? Korra massaged her temples as she blinked her eyes into focus as the young woman removed her helmet. It couldn't have been a girl too much older than Korra, but she was beautiful. There was something warm about it that 14-year-old Korra just couldn't place though. Maybe she was thinking too hard about it.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, still at Korra's side, noticing that Korra's breathing was slightly laboured and that she was still clutching her chest as she rose to her feet. "Did I hurt you? I did, didn't I? Ugh; I'm such an idiot…"

"I'll be fine," Korra licked a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth, her right arm moving to clutch her left, "honestly, I just took a beating harder than that against a lavabender hardly 20 minutes ago."

"Still… I'm so embarrassed…" the girl shook her head, "Hardly the first time my dad lets me drive one of these things and the first thing I do is slam into a kid on the road."

"I'll be fine," Korra had collected her bearings, "I'm the Avatar. It'll take more than a blow to the gut to take me out."

"Avatar?" the young woman explained, "Not who I expected to run into this early in life, and so of course the first thing I get to tell my dad is that I ran over the avatar on my moped. I'm Asami though. Please let me make this up to you somehow…"

"Uh, sure?" Korra shrugged, her left arm still a little sore from where it and her hip had collided with the street earlier, "I'll seriously be okay though, so don't stress about it."

"It's the principle of the matter though," Asami argued, "can I at least get your name though? Avatar's a nice title, but who you are is much more important than what you are"

"Korra," Korra smiled. She liked this woman already because of that philosophy alone. Maybe she was still touchy about Nakkoa and Kazuya.

"A pleasure then, Korra," Asami smiled at her, "tell you what; meet me at this address tonight around 7. My dad would love to meet you."

Korra glanced at the name on the card Asami had handed her, and the name stuck out to her.

"Sato?" She raised an eyebrow, "you're the daughter of THE Hiroshi Sato?" Korra might not have known the first thing about them other than that some had spacey compartments she could hide in, but every time she saw one of these machines race down the streets they intrigued her. Now she was excited that she could finally attach a name to a face.

"Yeah," Asami smiled. "He's my dad."

"Get out of town!" Korra pushed her playfully, although Asami was clearly not used to the same type of physical interaction that Kwan or even Nakkoa was, and so she actually staggered back and nearly fell.

"Easy there!" She stammered, "but come now, I'd be a terrible person to lie about something like that. If you want, we can meet him in person."

"The guy who might as well have invented all these cool machines zooming down the roads?" Korra's face lit up with interest, "count me in!"

"Consider it done then," Asami promised, "don't worry too much about trying to get there at 7 sharp, but don't be too late either. He might like it if you dressed a bit formal, but it's not like you're dressing up for a Republic City Council Gala or something; don't stress it too hard."

"I'll keep that in mind," Korra nodded, scratching her head. "Thanks again; uhh… I can't wait for tonight?" She smiled at Asami.

"It'll be fun," Asami giggled, finding the young Avatar's vibrant and diverse expressions to be rather charming. "It was nice meeting you, Avatar Korra," she smiled, shaking Korra's hand.

"Yeah," Korra blushed slightly, "Thanks."

As she walked down the road, she had a confident swagger in her step that she was unfamiliar with. Barring that Asami was pretty, and definitely one of the richest people in Republic City if she truly was a Sato, she was also very friendly and caring. Sure Korra's left arm and hip were still aching and there would definitely be bruises later that evening, but Asami was different from anyone Korra had met so far. She seemed friendly—a friend.

Korra made the sad realization that she had never really had an actual friend in her life before. Family was a friendship on a different and more intimate level, and so Tonraq and Senna were not really counted on the list. Kwan was friendly enough, although she still seemed sketchy in some ways. Nakkoa seemed to subtly dislike Korra to the point where even the young Avatar was aware of this even if she hadn't taken it up with her yet. Ichiro had been friendly, but he had admitted that, despite his niceties and friendly gestures, that there had in fact been an ulterior motive. Still, she liked Ichiro; he gave her the most delicious candies she had ever sampled.

"Speaking of candy…" Korra thought to herself as she raided her candy pouch, stuffing a few more sweets into her mouth to chew on as she roamed the Republic City streets,

But apart from Ichiro, Kwan, Nakkoa, and her parents, who else had she really met? She didn't really expect concern or friendship from Kazuya or anyone at the Earth Rumble ring, and so really, Asami might have been the first actual friend for Korra: someone her age; someone who treated her like a person instead of putting her on some distant pedestal as the Avatar. She was so busy thinking about this and staring at the ground that she didn't notice until too late that a lamppost was in front of her until she had slammed comically into it and fallen onto her backside.

"Shit…" she mumbled, massaging her butt as she stood back up. "I meant to do that!" She called out to no one in particular. Fortunately, it seemed everyone around her was too busy doing their own thing to worry about Korra. She was just another faceless figure in a sea of busy citizens tending to their own business. Never mind the fact that a 14-year-old girl was wandering through downtown on her own; no one knew anyone around them; their identity, their stories, their lives… they were all just featureless pieces of a much larger machine. How many dozens of people passed by the Avatar without even looking twice at her?

She was excited though, and needed to get home to at least consider cleaning up before going to meet Asami and her father. Should she clean up? Would it be wise for her to dress a little sharper so she didn't look like some Water Tribe hobo?

Of course, after several more streets of wandering, and Korra realized that she was once again completely lost. She reminded herself not to make a habit of this, and began whistling. She followed the descending sun, knowing that she had had it to her back when she had first set out, and so figuring if she went west enough, she'd end up close to where she started.

Naturally, this didn't work out as intended either, and so after a while, Korra just swore under her breath and whistled really loudly, hoping Naga would hear her. Sure enough, a few moments later there was the sound of people gasping and moving as the polar bear-dog charged through the ranks and found Korra.

"Take us home, girl!" Korra ordered after an affectionate head rub and tossing Naga one of the snacks she kept in her bag for just the occasion. Fortunately, Naga had better navigation skills than Korra and so was able to get them back to the hotel with ease. Korra managed to remember the suite number, and so after climbing 4 floors, found 428 easily enough.

Nakkoa was not back yet, but Kwan had returned sometime between the time Korra had left to roam the town and now, and Korra turned to her.

"Hey," she waved, "where'd you go?"

"I had business to attend to just as you did, of course," Kwan chuckled, "You seem a bit giddy though. Did you find some new candy or something?"

"I met a girl," Korra threw herself into a chair and sighed, "She was so friendly…"

"Did you get her name?" Kwan looked amused. "You look in love."

"I wouldn't say I'm in love…" Korra shook her head, also fairly oblivious to the concept of love given her sheltered upbringing and lack of anyone to feel affection towards, "It's just… she's my age and she's super friendly. Nothing against you or anything, Kwan, but I've never really had a friend my age in my life before, and it's… it's exciting. I dunno what to expect or anything, but it's a fantastic feeling."

"So..." Kwan's smile became more sincere. Seeing the young Avatar with such a purely happy expression tugged at her heartstrings in a peculiar way. None of her usual arrogance or swagger that she usually wore with pride was on this expression; this was an innocent level of excitement that Kwan couldn't help but appreciate. "Tell me her name, eh?"

"Asami Sato," Korra closed her eyes, whispering the name under her breath as if seeing how it felt on her lips. "She invited me to meet her and her dad later tonight—around 7 I think."

"Hold it…" Kwan spewed her drink across the table, which made Korra glad her chair was on the other wall of the suite, "Sato, you said?"

"Yeah; the guy who put all the vehicles on the roads and stuff," Korra nodded.

"You got a date with THAT guy?" Kwan's eyes widened with what looked like a mixture of awe and concern, "Well I mean, his daughter but still."

"I don't think it's a date?" Korra tilted her head, "I mean, she's inviting me over for a visit, and her dad's gonna be there… and bringing a dad on a date would just be ewww…"

"Well then," Kwan shook her head, "We've got to get you something to wear."

"Oh no," Korra groaned, her lower lip jutting out as if on cue, "are you seriously going to try and stuff me into one of those tight frilly things those uppity nobles wear?"

Kwan stared at Korra for a moment. "Korra, do I look like the type of person to do that to you? Nakkoa, maybe. Me? I say get something simple but effective. You just need to tell me if you like it or not, and the costs are on me. I'd offer to buy you some candy after we're done, but you have enough. I've seen your bag."

"No such thing as too much candy," Korra crossed her arms, her eyes closed, nose up, and lip out in a very matter-of-fact expression.

"Fair; fair," Kwan laughed as she pulled herself to her feet. "Now come on; we've only got a couple hours, and the sooner we get you dressed, the sooner you can bide your time and not worry about it."

"Fine, twist my arm." Korra sighed, throwing her hands up in defeat.

To her slight surprise and great relief, it seemed Kwan wasn't lying, to the point where they were out and back in the suite within 45 minutes. The dress she wound up getting Korra was a fairly simple sleeveless number, adorned with shades of grey and blue. The bands on her forearms were replaced by silver-colored bracelets, but the triangle-colored band around her upper right arm was allowed to stay. Her boots were grey to match the outfit, but otherwise fairly nondescript, as was her belts and other accessories. The triangle pattern on her armband also appeared on the lower hem of her dress as well as in smaller patterns across the arm-holes and neck. The color scheme was overall fairly reserved, starting with lighter blues and whites up top and descending into azures and greys lower down.

"You clean up pretty well, all things considering," Kwan nodded approvingly as she gestured for Korra to approach her. "Now we just need to tame that wild hair of yours."

Two broken combs later and Kwan was reconsidering this notion though.

"Your hair is so damn thick!" she swore loudly, her motions becoming harsher with each attempt.

"Would you rather I just burn it all off and go bald?" Korra quipped, "Maybe paint an arrow there so I can learn airbending or something?"

"That'd be the day," Kwan laughed, "keep your stupid thick hair. Just hand me that metal ball over here, and don't punch me if this accidentally hurts."

"What are you gonna do?" Korra gave Kwan a suspicious look.

"I'm gonna make a comb that doesn't break," Kwan laughed, metalbending the ball into a solid comb, "So don't scream when I pull your hair."

This request was blatantly disregarded, with Korra screaming a total of 7 different times, swearing twice, and flat-out pivoting around and decking Kwan in the mouth once. Despite the young Avatar's resistance, however, Kwan managed to get her hair neatened, to the point where Korra admired it in the mirror.

"Sorry for hitting you," she blushed a bit, embarrassed by that impulsive reaction.

"Don't worry; I deserved it," Kwan laughed, wiping a little extra blood from her mouth, "I'd have totally hit you back, but showing up to a date with a bleeding jaw isn't exactly a good first impression, and hell if I'm letting you get blood on your new dress."

"It all works out then," Korra shrugged, doing a little twirl in her dress. It was long enough that it didn't even reveal a sliver of her legs when she moved (the boots helped in that regard), and wasn't really frilly enough to fan out with those kinds of movements anyways. "So am I ready to go, or is there something else I need to worry about?"

"Other than drafts, which are a dress' worst enemy," Kwan laughed, "no, you should be ready to leave one hell of an impression on Mr. Sato. Let's get going."

"You didn't tell me you got a truck?" Korra exclaimed as Kwan led her outside to one of the aforementioned vehicles, "or that you could drive."

"Kid, I was a getaway driver for many a heist back in the day," Kwan laughed, "What did you think I was in prison for?"

"I dunno…" Korra looked embarrassed as she climbed in the passenger side, "murder?"

"Oh," Kwan laughed again as she sped towards the outskirts of town where the more affluent citizens resided, "well, that too. But I was also the getaway driver for when our little band of ne'er-do-wells plundered treasuries and all that jazz. It's a long story, and generally I try to leave my criminal past behind me."

"I… guess that's good then," Korra looked a little nervous. Kwan noticed it.

"It didn't scare you, did it?" she asked as she followed the streets, the buildings becoming sparser but fancier as they went.

"Oh no, it's not that," Korra admitted, "I'm just a little nervous about this meeting. I've never really met an actual celebrity before."

"...says the Avatar," Kwan chuckled as they continued to drive. "But I digress. Don't worry: you're the Avatar, and they just have to deal with it."

Korra grinned, and leaned back, taking a few deep breaths as she waited for them to arrive. After a few minutes, they stopped not far from a massive, almost imposing mansion with grounds that spanned for what looked like miles.

"So I'm going to let you out here. I'm sure Mr. Sato has a telephone you can use to call us when you're done here, and we'll come pick you up. Don't worry about curfews or anything though. We're not your parents."

"You don't want to come and say hello?" Korra tilted her head as she climbed out of the car.

"Ehh, it's complicated." Kwan stammered, "Besides, I had somewhere I need to be at 7:15, so I'll see you later tonight, yeah?"

"Alright then," Korra waved goodbye as Kwan put the vehicle into gear and sped off. For a moment there was silence as Korra approached the main gates. The sun was setting and the city was starting to light up. She peeked through the gates, not sure whether to expect Hiroshi or Asami, but saw neither of them. After a moment, she noticed a small button that she pressed out of curiosity. It rang a bell, to signify that someone was visiting, and Korra knew that this was her cue to wait. In just a few moments, she would be meeting the famous Sato Household properly—and in their home turf, no less.